Halford & Brough in the Morning - How Did The Canucks Do At The Draft?

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

In hour two, Brough and guest host Josh Elliott-Wolfe chat with OneSoccer analyst Oliver Platt (1:30) about what's next for Canada at the World Cup in the Round of 16, plus they speak with FloHockey prospects expert Chris Peters (21:44) about how the Canucks fared at this past weekend's NHL Entry Draft.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Welcome back to Halpert and Brough. No Mike Halpert, Josh Elie Wulf, filling in. Howford & Brough is brought to by Sands and Associates. Their clients often say, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off me. If debt is weighing you down, click sands dash trustee.com. This hour of Halpert &Bruff is for Jason. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

That's jason.com. mortgage. Wait, Mason McTavish got traded? Mason McTavish was traded. The text box, I don't know if you saw. A couple texts about it. He is now with St. Louis blue. I have to admit, I didn't make it through the four hours of the first round. I was back and forth, skipping back and forth. I was like, when are the Canucks going to pick? My God. And then they had two. Do they have the 24th pick or the 3,000th pick? It took a while. Decentralo. Approaching Oscar's territory with that length. It wasn't, It wasn't as quick. I thought they'd move it along.

They didn't. We were coming to you live from the Kintech studio. Step Strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. Guests on SportsNet 650, calling on the ABLE Auctions hotline. Email sales at ABLEE auctions.ca to get your business assets sold and your building cleared. Let's go to the Able Auctions hotline now. Welcome in Oliver Platt from One Soccer. Appreciate you taking the time, Oliver.

How are you feeling after a... yesterday's win for Canada. Good morning, guys. Feeling great. Canada's in the last 16 of the whole cup, which not too long ago would have been quite the thing to say out loud. And these group of players have made us believe that's possible, obviously. And certainly

you went into that game against South Africa believing they were the better side and could make that accomplishment a reality. But yeah, to actually see now that bracket with Canada, the first team into the last 16, is is pretty surreal.

It's a moment we've been waiting for for a long time in this country. And, yeah, it's up to the hype, I think. So we were talking about the match, and I was saying that I felt like I was in the minority because throughout that match, I was pretty confident that Canada was going to win and that it wasn't, in fact, going to get to penalties, which South Africa would have loved. I guess a lot of people felt differently. How did you feel during the match? I didn't feel great at the start of the game because I didn't think Canada started particularly well again.

But I thought as the match wore on, like I started to feel better. One, because I thought South Africa were just offering very little. And I thought those early stages, and maybe there's a bit of uncertainty in the way Canada's playing, I thought that that was their opportunity. And they were not nearly aggressive enough in trying to take it. The more the game wore on, I kind of felt like, you know, looking at the quality on, Canada's bench, particularly if Alfonso Davies was ready to go as he was this time, but you know, promised David, Nico Sigo, Jacob Schaupelberg, all of these guys came into

the match and made an impact. That's just much more quality and strength and depth than South Africa has. So the longer this game kind of went on at nil-0, that's how I actually felt. And I think maybe that was part of that thinking was that although you could say the first 45, 60 minutes were pretty overwhelming from a Canadian perspective, I think they felt the longer they keep it close and kind of stay in the game, they would have the impact players to go on and win it, and so it proved. Isn't that so often how soccer games go,

especially when you've got, I mean, Canada was a fairly significant favorite in this one. I don't think it was quite, you know, some of the true powers against some of the minnows, which we've seen at this World Cup. But isn't that how these games often go in that, you know, the underdog will defend, defend, defend, and then eventually maybe fatigue sets in

or maybe their depth is exposed and there's a mistake made defensively and the better team takes advantage of it because I feel like that's exactly what happened on Eustaccio's goal. Yeah, certainly at the World Cup, that's a pretty common trend. Like I've been covering the game series here in Toronto

and it's like every game that's gone to that script. We've seen, you know, some teams that are probably the underdog played pretty well in the first half and you think, hang on a minute, we might have an upset here. And then just as the game wears on, they tend to run out of steam a little bit. Again, they tend not to have reinforcements to the caliber of the stronger side, obviously, who have more strength and quality and reserve and they fade away and that changes the game a little bit. So, yeah, worked out for Canada. I think in this instance, it's almost like they've turned the biggest negative they had coming into this tournament, which is all the

questions over their health into now something of a positive that brings some of these guys off the bench even if they're not ready to start yet and they have some real impact players to affect games like on well i mean a couple guys didn't get into the game kyle aaron didn't get into the game aly emmed didn't get into the game what did you think about the decisions that jesse marsh made through throughout the match yeah armad i'm not sure if there's been an update on him i have to imagine that might have been fitness related because i'd be shocked if he you know, didn't start, let alone, didn't get in the game at all. Laren's obviously an interesting one because, like, to me right now, there's been all the debate about the strikers and which

one should play. I think as well as Laren has done scoring a couple of goals in this tournament, Oliver She's had a couple of starts. Even right now above Jonathan David's, promise David is the guy that they've got to get on the pitch, you know, as much as they can. And I think his fitness is probably still limiting him from being able to start games. But he's the guy for me who is coming in and affecting every game that he gets a chance to, you know, have an impact in. So it's a position where obviously you can only bring on so many players. You can only put so many strikers on the field at once. And I think right now, the guy that you want to go to off the bench, regardless of he started, is promised David.

And so in this instance, that meant Kyle Laron maybe having to sit one out unless you want to take Jonathan David off the pitch as well. Yeah. What did you think of Alfonso Davies? I don't think he looks fit. He's not going at guys and really burning them, but he's got quality that's, you know, above the majority of the players on this team

and certainly on the South African team and you can see coming into the game. He can get his head up, get his thought on the ball, find a pass, connect things in attack, even without necessarily having, you know,

his breakaway speed that is his biggest strength. So there's just kind of, I think, a bit of a composure and a calmness to him that Canada certainly benefited from at that point in the game. And if he can come in and just give him little cameos, you know, it was always going to be interesting to see when they brought him on because they had to think about the possibility of extra time.

So, you know, if he's only ready for 30, you can't bring him on after 60 minutes and potentially still have 60 minutes of game on. I think they had to leave it quite a for that reason, but he was able to have an impact. Jesse Marsh to me is such a compelling figure because if I'm being personally honest, he's not my cup of tea. Like, I think a lot of his stuff is a little bit performative and I kind of roll my eyes with some of the things that he does. But at the same time, it's not me who he's coaching. And if his approach works with the players, then by all means, you do you, Jesse Marsh. What do you think about him? Because he is a guy that gets a lot

of opinions. Yeah, I understand that. I think he's been the right man for the moment of what this tournament is needed to Canada, like in a funny way, and I don't want to sound like I'm damning him with St. praise here, but if Canada had been at full strength and you were really expecting them to, you know, produce excellent tournament performances, take the game to teams, show how far they've come and really play to their maximum potential, the jury still out on Mars on that front.

Like we saw that last year where they didn't play well at two tournaments, where they had an opportunity to win a couple of trophies in Concordcaf and didn't take it. So in a way, I think the fact that it's become more about like managing the group individually, keeping everyone positive, keeping everyone pointing in the right direction, not being kind of, you know, allowing this tournament to be dragged down by injuries, and not being kind of too stubborn to, you know, adapt how you approach the tournament to the reality. you're in rather than the reality you want to be in with a fully healthy squads. I think he's handled that very well and that in some ways I think plays to his strengths as a

man manager and, you know, this very positive guy who some people will see as a bit performative by him that's just kind of how he is. That's kind of kept Canada pointing in the right direction at a tournament where I think, you know, it's very possible that the way they entered it with all the doubts or the injuries could have, you know, taken them off course very early. So I give a lot of credit for the way you handled that. I mean, I do too. And it's almost unbelievable all the injuries that Canada has had to deal with, not only coming into the tournament, but during the tournament, I mean, I guess you could argue that, what,

four out of their five best players have all dealt with significant injuries? Yeah, yeah, Davies, Bombita, obviously promised David, I think, is remarkable he's even playing let alone making the impact he is. Ahmed obviously had an injury coming in. Maybe I'm not sure what his status is. Like I said yesterday, but he's not able to play again. So it's been a real challenge. And then Kone obviously.

The only healthy one that I can think of that, you're just like, well, Jonathan, David, I think he's healthy, right? Like that's that's it. No, I said this to, you know, a couple of friends before the Switzerland game. If you'd said, you know, they're going into playing against the team like Switzerland without that list of players, you would have been worried. And okay, they don't win that game and get the result they wanted, but they're in it and they've been able against, you know,

the next tiered out of opposition to get the job done. Tell us a bit about Eustacchio and his role in the Canadian program in previous years and how big that goal must have been for him. Yeah, I just think, like, you won't hear anyone who's playing. played for that team, coached that team, covered that team in the media, say a bad word about him. Like, he's just really being kind of exemplary ever since the day he committed to the team. And that's the other kind of significant part of it is that he was born in Canada,

but spent a lot of his life in Portugal. And so to commit to this country, you know, to never be kind of one fit in, one foot out and questioning, do I want to come and play this game? Or, you know, am I going to stay at Porto where I've got massive expectations on my shoulders all the time. He's always been there. He's always showed up. He's always taken on a team first kind of role in the side.

He doesn't often get to be the hero like he was in that game yesterday. And even with the captaincy as well, like there were a lot of reasons to make Stefan Astaccio the captain of this team for all the things I've just talked about. And it didn't happen because of, you know, we know Alfonso Davies is the face of the team in many ways and his stature. And he's never once shows. any kind of sign of bitterness or, you know, disillusionment about that decision.

He's just got on with it. Took his armband off when Davies came on? Yeah. You don't know where you go there. The arm band anyway quite a lot, right? Because of Davies' absence. So, yeah, just the guy that you really can't say enough about in terms of his personality and what he's meant to this team.

Okay. Now tell us about the challenge that Canada has going ahead. they are into the round of 16, which is awesome. And Jesse Marsh said this is kind of like a free hit at one of the powerhouses. The Dutch have been a long time powerhouse of world soccer and the Moroccans are an up-and-comer. And Canada has certainly seen how good Morocco can be. Did they have a chance? They have a chance for sure.

And maybe these kinds of games suit them a bit more right now in the sense. that they can set up to be the underdog, try and frustrate the opposition, play on the counter attack a bit more. It's not going to be much pressure on them in this game to kind of take the initiative and control the game. I think they can pick their moments. And they can feel like a team that's kind of,

you know, every team comes into a World Cup with some kind of idea of what's the minimum expectation. You know, what's going to allow us to go home, not considered failures? And Canada has hit that now, and the pressure is off their shoulders a little bit, I think as a result, neither of these two teams that they could face can say that.

You know, they're going to be heavy favorites. Anything other than beating Canada is going to be, you know, a major failure for them. And that comes with a bit of weight. So you try and tap into that, but no doubt they're going to be significant underdogs against two good teams. And, you know, I think the Netherlands will be a lot of people's pick for tonight's game. But I think this Morocco team is incredibly talented, more so than 2022. too and they will be a real test for them.

One of the big stories, I think, for me from the group stage was Asia's performance, and it was a disaster overall. I think they had nine teams qualified. Two of them went through, and that would be Japan and Australia. And then South Korea, obviously, were upset by South Africa. They didn't make it through as a third place team. Iran, I mean, what a heartbreaking tournament for Iran. And obviously, there was additional stories around how they were treated in the United States

and how difficult that might have been the challenge, made the challenge. But, you know, you're looking back at only two of the nine teams from Asia making it through. Are they overly represented at the World Cup? Does that need to be discussed? It's a good question. I don't know if I'd say overly represented in terms of the number of teams, but I do think like you have to say that the way Qatar and Saudi Arabia have kind of, they have a lot of money, they have a lot of influence all over the world.

Obviously Qatar's already been awarded a World Cup. Saudi's going to get one in 2034. And you just wonder if that kind of warps the competition there a little bit in a way where Qatar gets a lot of favorable stuff in terms of being able to host a lot of things and things like that and then they show up at the World Cup and they're just not at the level.

So that doesn't help in terms of, you know, having a decent number of teams that compete and progress. But I think it probably goes beyond that as well to just like there's a few teams in that region not in a great place right now. I think South Korea was one of them. I didn't think they were impressive throughout, to be honest. And Japan are a distance

above everyone else. You know, Australia are a team that's very solid, very difficult to be. They're never an easy out. But Japan are quite clearly like the best team by a distance. And there doesn't seem to be many programs in that region right now that are able to kind of get to that same standards. So they're very impressive. When you look at what they've done domestically with their J-League

and things like that, it's been a model for a lot of people around the world, ourselves included. Everyone else seems to, yeah, be trailing distantly behind right now. And Japan could be out of this tournament in about four hours because they were rewarded by playing very well in the group stage. And they get Brazil in the round of 32. There are some really unfair matchups. Like I think, I mean, the Dutch are, they've got to be furious with the way. Like, they win their group and they get second place.

Other teams that won the group get third place teams. and the second place team the Dutch get is Morocco and Japan gets Brazil like that are they are they screaming bloody murder over there I've been kind of focused on Canada not the Dutch yeah it was I don't know if this was kind of just bad luck or what but there was a couple of groups where they were among the strongest groups in the tournament and they were paired up together in terms of

potential knockout stage opponents like it's the same thing with the the France group and the Germany group right like Norway are playing ivory the two second place teams in those two groups. So it's been interesting to see this format. I've not personally been a fan. I think it's been at times, you know, you've kind of had both ends of the spectrum.

At times it's been very, very forgiving of teams. You know, it's been quite difficult to get eliminated. In the group stage, it feels like at times there's always second chances. And then on the other end of things, you do have some matchups now.

where, yeah, some of the stronger teams have been paired together. Teams that fell to thirds, you know, a much more difficult matchups on paper than some of the teams in maybe weaker groups that finish first or seconds. So it's created a bit of an unbalanced format. And Argentina is the big winner because their pathway, if you've seen it through the semifinals, is, yeah, they couldn't have asked for much better. So it's going to give some teams an advantage and make some teams life very difficult. I guess you have to beat the best at a World Cup at some point.

Hey, Oliver, really appreciate you take the time and enjoy all the games leading into Saturday for Canada. Thanks, guys. Have a good one. Thank you. There is Oliver Platt from one soccer joining us, and that leads into the one to watch brought to you by Limitless AV. I'm just going to go with tonight's match between Netherlands and Morocco. We'll see who is going to be playing against Canada on Saturday. It's at 6 o'clock. So adjust accordingly, I guess. That's the one to watch, brought to you by Limitless AV. Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts

specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today at limitlessav.com. Okay, we're going to talk to Chris Peters on the other side, but before we go to break, do want to talk to you about the hometown heroes lottery. More options, more cash, more ways to win with BC. Bravest final deadline coming up fast tickets at heroes lottery.com 19 plus to play. Know your limit. Play within it. And don't forget that this is truly a lottery for heroes.

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Okay, it is Halford and Brough. Josh Elliott Wolf filling in for Mike Halford. On the other side, going to talk to Chris Peters about what the Vancouver Canucks did at the draft. That's coming up next on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand. through your favorite podcast app.

Welcome back to the Halpert & Brough show on SportsNet 650, Josh Elliott Wolf, Jason Brough here with you. Coming to you live from the Kintech Studio 650, 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Halperin & Brough is brought to you by Sandson Associates. Their clients often say there is no judgment you feel cared for and understood. Get debt free at sands-trustee.com. This hour of Halperdenbrough, Halford and Brough.

I forgot to say your name. It's for Jason. Dot Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's Jason.

Dot Mortgage. I don't think I could have said my name about two hours after the match ended yesterday. That's great. Yeah. In the Mickelope Ultra Tent. Is that where you camped out? Yeah.

It's a good spot. It was. I was really in the sun. I'm shocked. I have a voice today. I actually went into that game going like, you cannot yell. Like don't yell. Did you yell?

No, I was miming like crazy. Oh, okay. It was. To save face. If someone saw you, they were like, oh, he was yelling. He was into it. No, I was very into it. But I was just like, don't scream and yell because I didn't want to come in and not have a voice.

Fair enough. He's a pro. Let's go to the Abel Auctions hotline now. Welcome in Chris Peters, Content Manager for Flow Hockey, Draft and Prospect, Analyst, I appreciate you taking the time, Chris. We'll get into the specifics, but just your thoughts on the draft class as a whole for the Vancouver Canucks to start.

Yeah, you know, actually, well, thanks for having me, guys. And I think it's a great start, you know, kind of for where they're at right now in terms of, you know, having the first four picks in particular, I find, you know, very, very exciting, you know, in terms of what they bring to the table, the upside that they all have.

You know, obviously Caleb, Alhotra being the centerpiece of the class. It's a good place to be, I think, you know, as an organization, you want to try to set yourself up with as many opportunities to land NHL players. I think that they did that with both the number of picks and then, you know, who they got out of it. Because I think even as you go further down the board and you see like a Yaroslav-Briz-Galov is kind of more of a raw upside play.

And then you've got, you know, like Connor Davis, who had a really strong season in the USHL, he's going to go to North Dakota. You don't have to kind of think about him for a little while, but he's, you know, he had a really strong end to his junior career. So there's a lot of intrigue in the class, I feel like, and certainly the top two picks are, are guys that I, I really like a lot. Well, let's talk about a third overall, Caleb Mahaltrow. It feels like he's maybe a little divisive amongst prospect analysts. What are your thoughts on his season? It's kind of late resurgence here and where he found himself a third overall. Yeah, well, you know, I had him forth on my final list, and I did have him ahead of Vigo Bjork,

even though I, you know, I think that there was probably a late surge for Vigo to potentially be the number one center in the class. But, you know, I think what Caleb Mahhotra brings is the best possible fit that the Canucks could have asked for in terms of a guy that's, you know, maybe he'll be a number one center. It's not a guarantee, but he's probably no worse than number two center, which is still a very valuable thing. I think the most important thing with Caleb Malhotra specific to the Canucks is that you need players that want to be there. And he so clearly wanted to be a Canucks, never made that a secret. And yes, of course, there's the Mani Malhotra element to it. But I still think that the player is more important than the coach. And the player will be there a lot longer than the coach is.

So that I do think that Caleb will be there for a long period of time and playing a pretty significant role. In terms of his play and everything else, I mean, his postseason, he had a tremendous playoffs with Brantford, which really, you know, I think solidified him as a potential, you know, top five pick in this class.

There were a lot of scouts watching him a lot over the second half of the season. And, you know, he had over 80 points. He did a lot of things well with, you know, in terms of goal scoring, making plays, being available on the penalty kill, winning face-offs. He does a lot of things.

There's a lot of detail to his game. And I do think that while the offense isn't elite, I do think that it is something where he is going to score. And really, to me, that was the reason that I put him ahead of Vigo Bjork. I think there's more offense than Caleb Malhotra than there is in Vigo based on what I've seen over the last couple of years. So we'll see where everything ends up. But I think as far as the Canucks are concerned, it was both a fit pick,

but it was also very reasonable in that range. So it's interesting you kind of bring up the offensive side of things because we do get a lot of texts worried about like, hey, did the Canucks not swing for upside at third overall? What do you think the ultimate upside at the NHL level would be for Caleb if he does hit? Yeah, you know, I think he has the potential to be a point per game center, which I think would be a really good result for a third overall pick. And if that's the case, that's a really strong pick.

And it's a guy that could potentially be your top line center. I don't think he has any one elite offensive trait, and that's probably where there's some concern in terms of the overall upside. But based on where they were picking, it was either that or one of the defensemen, because you were not going to get the level of offensive upside in this class that I think would allow you to pass on the premium positions. Once Denberg and McKenna were gone, that kind of solidified any idea that you were going to get a significant offensive producer. Now, guys like Chase Reed and Daxon Rudolph probably, you know, in terms of defensemen, have more offensive upside.

But I think that when you look at the totality of facts and also the need for a center, I do think that that was probably, you know, the override. theme is like, hey, this is a guy that certainly is the fit for us, but also what are we giving up to take this player? I don't think they gave up much, just in terms of maybe an offensive defenseman, but you know, you're hoping that Zev Boullium is your number one defenseman down the line here, and I think he can be, and you don't really have enough at the forward position to, you know, confidently say you've got some core pieces there. You know, and while Caleb Malhotra might not be the strongest core piece for a rebuild. He's still a guy that I think you can rely on pretty heavily over the course of his career

when he gets there in a couple of years. How difficult has it been for scouts and talent evaluators to adjust to the changing landscape in the CHL, the NCAA, essentially, if you want to, long story short, CHL weaker, NCAA stronger. How hard has that been for you guys? not that hard honestly i mean like i think that the there is an adjustment period i think one thing that we're you know we take note of is the w hl was a point festival this year in a way that really hadn't you know like hadn't been for players of this age um and so that was something

you say okay we're going to take those numbers like so like cars and carlson dachson rudolph had eye-popping numbers from the back end and i'm not really taking much away from them by saying that, you know, it was a week or a year in terms of what happened there. But I do think that that was, you know, that was definitely a factor. But the thing about looking at the NCAA and these guys that are in the NCAA, you kind of have to adjust your expectations. But I do think that the data that you're getting out of those players, including Gavin McKenna and Keaton Verhoff and those that played NCAA hockey this year,

it's better because they are challenged in a different way. And so elements of their game were exposed. Why did we have a little bit more criticism towards Gavin McKenna? It's because his play away from the puck was way more exposed at the college level than it ever had been at junior. Same with Keaton Verhoff. His reads were a little bit, you know, junior. And he needed to be more, you know, and college players exposed that pretty easily. So, you know, those are the things that you kind of see.

And that helps. But, you know, there weren't a lot of significant. changes. I think looking at the OHL that they were probably, you know, around the same, the QMJHL was probably a little bit better this year than it had been in years past. So like, you know, it all kind of, there's, there's a lot of different little variables, but I don't think it doesn't change the job that much because you have to continue to look at the player based on understanding the context, but look at the player based on what you're seeing and then make a decision based off of that. And I think, you know, for a lot of these players,

the way we viewed them didn't materially change aside from the fact that maybe they were challenged or not challenged in different ways and you have to take that into account. So what should Caleb's expectations be when he goes to BU next season? Like should he be the leading scorer on the team? Like what should we spec? Like what kind of role is he going to play? Well, he's going to have to challenge Tynum Lawrence,

who also went in the first round and now has played a half a year of college hockey, he's going to have to challenge him to be the number one center on the team. I think that's great. Having that level of competition at this stage is huge. And if Caleb does not end up being the number one center, it is zero impact on my opinion of the player because that's the nature of college hockey. Things are more difficult. There are going to be a lot of talent.

The talent's consolidated a bit more. So you're just kind of, you know, since players get to choose where they go, there, you have some kind of super teams sometimes. And so BU is going to be one of those places that is very talented. I do think that scoring is going to be tougher for him in his first year of college than it

was this year in the OHL. That's going to be an adjustment. I also think BU is an incredibly young team, which makes it very challenging for them in hockey East where they're going to play against some older teams. So you know, I think

if he's a 40-point play, next year, which I know doesn't sound exciting, but that's basically college hockey is around 40 games. You know, that's a really good outcome. If he's in the 30-ish, like, I think he should expect 30 to 40 points next year. That's kind of the baseline just because I think his size, his hockey sense, he'll adjust pretty well. Anything above that would be a huge bonus.

And I think if he's a little bit behind that, it's not panic time yet. Okay. The Canucks had not one but two first round picks with. It's a 24th pick. They took Adam Novotny out of Peterborough. He's a Czech player. That's all I know. Tell us more.

Yeah, I mean, so he came over to the, the OHL this year after playing, you know, professionally at home. And anytime he has played in international tournaments and everything like that, he's always been a standout player. He's been a heavily utilized player. He was heavily utilized in Peterborough. year. He did not have a great playoff, which I think is part of why he flipped a little bit. I had him kind of ranked in the mid-teens. That's where he was for a lot of the season. I never really

changed that opinion of him because, yes, he didn't necessarily have the best playoffs, but the way that he plays, I still think will translate very well to playoff hockey. Peterborough maybe didn't have the depth and other things like that. I don't want to make too many excuses for a player that played professionally and didn't perform at that level. But at the same time, he's a two-way player, very committed off the puck, an incredible skater. You know, that's a big thing, is that he's got this skating ability, but he's also very thick. He's strong.

He's hard to knock off puck. He's good in puck pursuit. So like all those things, he's a real, probably a middle six player, but he had 30 goals this year. I think he has scoring potential. The question is going to be. know, is he like a 60-point player or something around those lines? That's going to be kind of the baseline of what I, you know,

reasonably expect for a player like him around. And really for where he's picked, that's pretty fair as well. So, you know, I think that he's got a lot of tools to him, and it's just a matter of, you know, where he can go next. The one concern, I guess I would say about Adam Novotny is that he's a pretty physically developed player. So you're just kind of wondering, where the next steps are going to be in terms of

ceiling and upside. But at the same time, he just knows how to play. He plays a hard known style, but not like, he's not mean, but he's, you know, which we'd like to see him get a little meaner, but he just, he's got a hardworking kind of blue collar almost game, but he still has

enough skill to put some pucks in a net too. So I think that, you know, he's at that range of the draft, I think he's a very strong pick. And I like the player quite a bit. Speaking of physically developed, the Canucks next pick at 33rd overall, Brooks Rogowski, six foot seven. What can you tell us about him? Well, he's six foot seven, but I wouldn't say he's all that physically developed yet.

So that's a good, that's a good thing. He's still got a ways to go in terms of his overall game. Six foot seven center, good, really good mobility for the size. That's an exciting thing is that I think that he moves pretty well at that. size. He's probably, you know, long-term, probably a depth guy, more than likely in, you know, a bottom six center. But the fact that you have a six foot seven center that can do that, that's finding his way a little bit still. He's still a very raw prospect. It's only been two years since he played Michigan high school hockey. So like he goes from Michigan high school

hockey to the OHL, humongous jump, you know, handled himself extremely well, goes and gets, you know, gets opportunities at the HALink of Gretzky. was invited to the under 18 world championship this year, you know, all these different things. And he is going back to junior next year, which is a great decision for him because I think his offensive game has room to develop. He's going to have more time and space than junior than he would. Also, we talk about super teams.

He's committed to Michigan State. There is no greater super team in college hockey next year than Michigan State probably. So, you know, he would probably be way down the depth chart. This is going to give him an opportunity to play up the lineup up in Ashwa and maybe be a really important and impactful player at the OHL level. Very raw talent. I had him as a first round pick this year. I think the size and the upside are there.

I really like them. I think the character is strong. There's a lot of good things here. And, you know, for me, one of those players that I think will only age better because he has not even scratched the surface of his potential yet. Yeah. I mean, he was a baseball player, wasn't he? Like, wasn't that what he thought he was going to be?

Yeah, I mean, his dad, you know, well, I'm always partial to guys whose dad were former white socks farmhands. So, yeah, Casey Rogowski was a pro baseball player. And, yeah, it was interesting. Like, he had that baseball background. And it sounds like the family was pretty sad when he decided to hang up the cleats and pick up the skates. But it was a good decision for him, for sure.

Okay. Let's talk about the other second round pick that Kinecks had, Nicholas Aram, Olson. I know, I'm not a draft expert by any means, but I know there were some other players on the board that some Canucks fans wanted them to take over Aram Olson. Well, I mean, I think there's all, that's always the case. And, you know, the amount of information that is, you know, goes into these picks and the decisions that are made. I mean, I think that there are there more exciting players probably? But I think Aaron Olson is a guy. I had them plotted at. 39th on my list. And so, like, he's right, right in the range. He goes right in that range. And I think there's a lot more offense than he has shown so far. You know, I think that he's playing in Sweden. He's getting opportunities, you know, but he didn't have an amazing under 18 worlds. I thought if he had a better under 18 worlds, which he did kind of improve later in the tournament,

that could have really set him up to potentially even be a first round pick. And in the, in the TSN poll that that I did as well. I'm sorry to mention that, but I did that too. He was an honorable mention. So like, you know, like in all these projections and other things that were done there,

like he is right in the range where he was probably going to go all along. I think there's a lot more offense there. We're going to see it over time. He's going to continue to develop, but he's a really interesting player overall. And I think that he's one of those guys that should just,

kind of marinate over time and we'll see where he ends up but but i like that pick quite a bit um and that was another reason why i thought the the canucks had a strong draft is i think those four guys all have the potential to play how many stanley cups is san ozay going to win in i don't know the next 15 years they add ivers denberg at number two so they went that way and then they still got a defenseman in keaton verhoff and number nine and then oh yeah they just got another right shot defenseman Ryan Lynn, who we know pretty well in this part of the country at 21st overall. It's just, I don't want to say it's unfair because the sharks have done a really good job in getting first round picks and making those first round picks. They have had a little bit of luck with the draft water, which the Canucks have had, have not had.

But man, just tell us what San Jose is building down there. Yeah, I mean, obviously when you have Maclin Celebrating at the center of it all, that changes the dynamic pretty significantly. So, I mean, having that is big, you know, we've got a lot of guys that we still have to wait and see exactly how they're going to pop and if they're going to pop. The thing is that what they've built in their prospect system is strength at every position. Their biggest area of weakness was right shot defensemen. They get two in the first round this year. You know, they get, they had one of their, you know, basically like they took a. swing on a seven foot one guy who probably will not play, but like at that point,

they're just like, hey, you know what? We have literally everything else we need. Why not take a chance on Alexander Carmanos and tallest player that's ever been drafted? Who, you know, again, not sure he'll ever play. But still, that's still an amazing kind of position to be in. And so, you know, with Celebrini, with Will Smith, you know, they had a guy pop that maybe they weren't expecting in Igor Chernishab. You know, like all these different players that they're coming through.

They have two goalies in the pipeline. They have Ascarov now. And they have Joshua Ravensburg, who's going to Michigan State, probably going to play a ton of games and maybe be signing here in the next year or two. You know, so they have strength at every position, which is really great. Not every single one of those guys is going to pop. So you're going to have to continue to supplement and build around that. But in terms of the future core of this team, it's unrivaled. And really having Macklin Celebrini is the cheat code.

that that's the unfair part of it all is that they they were bad at the right time and they got the best possible player and now you know because of even if even if they didn't have the draft they just said because of him I'm like okay they're on a Stanley Cup track it's just building around him and now they've really got a lot of the pieces that you would think will be part of that in like five six years where they're just constantly competing and contending for Stanley Cups hey Chris really appreciate you taking the time and I'm sure we will be talking a lot more over the next couple years at least. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, it's going to be a lot of patience there in Vancouver, but we'll get you through it. Sounds good. There's a... All right, thanks, guys. Thank you. There's Chris Peters from Flow Hockey Content Manager for Flow Hockey. Going to be a lot of prospect talk over the next three years. Terrific.

Awesome. Get pumped up. Yeah. That is a... I do want to talk about the smart decision. The Canucks had four picks in the first two rounds. is here. That's a smart decision. They should be doing that more. It'd be a smart decision for Brough to become a prospects

expert. No. It's too late. No. Can't change now. This kid is weak. He's too small. He loves the Canucks draft. He's like, wow, they're all over six foot. Anyway, that's the smart decision brought to you by Crow. Your trusted accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years.

Crow, smart decisions, lasting value. Learn more, chroma-kai. dot CA. Okay, Sat's going to join us next and I want to talk obviously about the draft that the connects just had but with Sat I more want to dive into

other stuff. What they did not do? What they did not do and that is make a big trade. And I would love to know what the discussion is among the management group right now because we've heard reports

including from Thomas Drance and, you know, what Drans heard was that the Canucks were quote unquote desperate to move off of Julius Pedersen. I think Jake DeBresk, for me, it almost felt like he was a given that he was going to be traded this offseason. I was a little surprised that he didn't go before the draft, but I still feel like the Canucks will want to trade him and Jake DeBress probably wants to go somewhere where it's a more competitive team.

And then Pedersen and Besser are like, I don't know. I don't know if they're going to be part of the Canucks once training camp comes around. Maybe some other moves need to be made around the NHL before teams start considering Pedersen or Besser or even Jake DeBrusk. But I think the management team wants to make changes. But right now, you know, like there just haven't been many from a roster perspective other than like we're going to let the free agents walk. Is Larkin what's holding everything up? potentially. Maybe, but Josh, you made a good point in saying, like,

is he like almost a different category? Like, would you go from wanting Dylan Larkin to then considering Alias Patterson? Maybe. Some teams might, but I also think some teams out there might call the Red Wings about Dylan Larkin. They're like, hey, this is going to cost you the equivalent of like three first round picks. And they go, oh, that's a lot. And then they just pivot to like the Elias Patterson market.

I mean, I think the Canucks would be pumped to get a first round pick right. him. Yeah. And so would they have to retain to get it? Yeah. Is that the price of retention? Are you buying essentially a first round pick if you retain? Maybe. I don't know. We could talk to Satyar Shah about this. On the other side, before we go, though, the Duick Auto Group is the official automotive sponsor of Halford & Brough. Find out why nobody meets a

duik deal since 1926. Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive, downtown in Richmond, and at duik Auto Group.com. It is Halford and and Brough. Josh Elliott Wolf, Jason Brough, talking to Sattyar Shaw coming up next on Sportsnet 650.